


Aftermath

by katychan666



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, Happy Ending, I can't handle my babies being sad, M/M, Post-Break Up, Spoilers for 2x18, Working things out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 18:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11674584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katychan666/pseuds/katychan666
Summary: After the break up, Alec is devastated, but doesn't let that show. Or so he thinks, until he breaks down one day in front of his brother. Alec is heartbroken, but so is Magnus and in the end, things aren't as dark as they seem.





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> This episode... killed me, left me speechless. It was wonderful, beautiful and freaking heartbreaking at the same time. I wrote this because I want them to be happy. I can't handle them being in pain and broken up. I hope that they work things out soon in the show TT

They had broken up, Alec’s breath shaking as he thought about that. It was later that day and he had locked himself inside of his room, refusing to come out. The only person that he talked to was Max, but after that, Alec shut off all of the other people for the time being. He didn’t know how to handle the heartbreak, it was his first one. Magnus really did take all of his firsts; his first kiss, his first time, his first love and… his first heartbreak. Alec gritted his teeth and buried his face into his palms. He understood Magnus well when he said that he needed to take care of his own people; Magnus was an honourable man himself. Alec understood that it’s important to put other people before yourself; he had been doing that for his entire life… and just where did it bring him? For the first time, he allowed himself to open up to another person like he never had before and that came to bite him in the ass. Yet, he didn’t regret it.

Magnus Bane was the best thing that had happened in his life and during the few months that the relationship lasted, he was the happiest person alive. He just wished that he’d show that he cared about Magnus more. The time that they had spent together was precious to the Shadowhunter, but sometimes he knew that he could try better, be better. Magnus deserved everything and so much more and well… Alec knew that he wasn’t always the wisest person around and without realising, he ended up hurting his boyfriend more than once. Well, ex-boyfriend now.

Alec felt his heart literally breaking at that thought and he sat down onto his bed, climbed onto it and then lied down, pressing a pillow against his chest and his eyes welled up when he remembered the words that Magnus said to him. He loved him; the warlock said that he loved him. The young man cursed, because he knew that he was at fault for making Magnus breaking things off with him. If only he didn’t lie about the Sword, things would be so much easier now. A loud sob left the hunter’s mouth and he curled up into a ball, trying to keep himself from bursting into tears. But, he couldn’t and tears fell down his cheeks when there was a knock at the door, this time Jace, asking if he would be joining them for dinner.

Alec didn’t reply. He didn’t need food, he needed Magnus. And without him, Alec didn’t care what happened to him. He knew that he would be able to collect himself, but not at that minute. He didn’t care if he was the Head of the Institute, he needed time to cope with his feelings. His parents, Jace, Izzy and even Clary were capable enough to run the Institute for only a day. He was sure that after a day, he would be back on his feet. Alec ducked his head down when he heard more voices coming from outside his room. Joining Jace, there was also Maryse in front of the door, begging him to come out. With a heavy heart, Alec only turned onto his other side, placed his own two hands on top of his ears and closed his eyes, trying to ignore everything around him.

Alec didn’t get much sleep that night and many more sleepless nights came after the first one. Two weeks after the break up, Alec appeared to be completely fine. Because he was still in charge, he tried to keep himself busy with work and not focus on personal things. Robert and Maryse were proud when they saw how fast he was able to recover and not dwell about the past too much. However, his _parabatai_ and sister knew him well enough. Izzy and Jace tried speaking with him, but he would just reassure them that he was okay. They could see it in his eyes that he was lying, but they didn’t want to push their brother too much. Besides, things weren’t even that bad, was what Alec forced himself to believe. Max was alive and that was the only thing that kept him going. As they were still working on capturing Jonathan and Valentine, Alec was keeping himself busy with training Max and soon that quality time with his little brother became his favourite part of the days.

Training Max gave him a purpose and it was a way to not think about Magnus. Because during the two weeks, Magnus hadn’t called or contacted him at all. Alec tried calling him a few times, begging if they could have a talk, but the warlock never picked up. That was when Alec got the hint; it was over for good and it was the time for him to move on. But, God, was that painful. Magnus claimed that he loved him, yet he couldn’t pick a phone call from him? That seemed very unfair and cruel to Alec, but he decided to deal with it. During the days, he was able to deal with emotions, but when the night came… Alec spent many nights crying himself to sleep or not sleep at all.

Alec was currently in the training room, waiting for him brother to join him. Just as his demons were about to overcome him completely, Max joined him in the training room and a bright smile spread across Alec’s face. “Max!” said Alec happily, his worries forgotten for the time being. “I was afraid you weren’t going to show up after I kicked your butt yesterday,” teased the older sibling and Max quickly shook his head.

“You didn’t kick my butt yesterday!” complained the boy and gave Alec a determined face. “I was this close to winning, but you cheated by tickling me,” he then added, fuming with embarrassment and Alec chuckled when he saw how red his brother’s cheeks had gotten.

“Fair enough,” said Alec, because it was true. “I won’t do that today. However, I’m not planning on taking it easy on you. Show me what you’re made of, young Shadowhunter,” said then and Max’s good mood and his fighting spirit were soon back.

“Prepare yourself, old man,” teased Max back.

“Hey, I’m not old!” whined Alec, Max bringing the playful side of him out and the younger one then just smirked as the training began. Alec was very impressed with Max, because his brother had gotten a lot stronger ever since Izzy started training him and his improvement was even clearer now that Alec put all of his time into training Max. He was beyond proud of the younger one and once the training was over, Alec walked back to his brother and ruffled his hair, a proud smile on his face.

“How did I do?” asked Max. “I was good, wasn’t I?” he asked cockily and Alec just rolled his eyes, but the smile remained.

“Yes, you were very good. Good job, Max,” said Alec and Max beamed up at his older brother. Coming that from Alec meant a lot to the boy. Ever since he could remember, he idolised all of his older siblings, but because Alec was the oldest one, Max always thought that his big brother was able to do everything. And he could. He was amazing.

“Thank you,” said Max, reminding himself that being humble was a virtue as well and Alec just nodded. As Max was about to leave, he stopped himself and turned back to his brother, looking down. While Alec appeared to be fine, Max noticed changes as well. Alec was smiling a lot less lately and he knew that it had to do something with Magnus. He hadn’t seen the warlock around anymore. Plus, since Max’s room was next to Alec’s, the boy could hear muffled sobs coming from Alec’s room in the middle of the night.

“What’s up, Max?” asked Alec when he saw that Max was looking at him. “Want to go for a round two?” asked the older one with a smile.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Are you okay?” asked Max and Alec’s throat squeezed as he quickly looked away. The boy once said that he didn’t care about Alec’s boyfriend, but that changed. Now that Maryse had explained to him, Max was slowly beginning to realise some things that he didn’t before. Mom told him that Alec was very strong and brave for what he did and was so open about his relationship. Now, the boy realised that maybe he should’ve acted differently around Alec’s boyfriend. Plus, he was worried about Alec and even though he was still so young, he wanted Alec to rely on him. He was old enough to understand what Alec was going through, he was sure of it.

“Of course I’m fine, Max. What do you mean?” asked Alec nervously and turned around, because he didn’t want Max to his face twisted in pain.

“Izzy said that you and Magnus have some troubles,” started off the young boy and Alec froze in place. He was angry; Isabelle had to place to be discussing his relationship with Max. He was the only one who wasn’t looking at him with that pity in his eyes. Alec couldn’t handle it. “Do you want to talk about it?” tried the boy again and Alec heard his heart breaking.

“We broke up,” said Alec, his voice breaking when he heard himself say that. It was the first time that he actually said it out loud himself and it hurt like hell. “There’s no conversation to be had,” he then added. “I’m over it, so you shouldn’t worry about me, Max.” As Alec was speaking, he kept looking away, tears in his eyes. His lower lip was trembling and he wanted Max to go to his room.

“Is this why you’re crying every night?” was the next question that came and Alec turned around, tears wetting his cheeks then.

“W-what?” stammered Alec. “How do you-”

“I heard you,” said the boy. “Your room is next to mine, remember?”

“Oh God,” whispered Alec and hid his face into his palms, a loud sob breaking the silence and he then turned around once again. He couldn’t stand someone seeing him crying, not even his brother. Especially not Max; he knew how much the boy idolised him and in his eyes, he wanted to be perfect. However, once Max said that, Alec could stop the tears from flowing and Max just stood there for a few moments, before he gathered enough courage to go to Alec.

Max gently tugged onto Alec’s shirt and the older one looked to Max, who was conflicted what to say. “It’s okay to cry, Alec,” said Max in the end and that was when Alec completely broke down. He had gotten down to his knees and leaned up, hugging Max. At first, the younger one just stood, but then hugged his brother back and his eyes widened when Alec started sobbing loudly. Max didn’t say anything for a while and allowed Alec to take his time, but deep inside he was angry with Magnus. He was so young, so he didn’t understand how relationships worked. In his eyes, the warlock was mean for making his brother cry like that. Max didn’t know all of the circumstances of what happened, so he blamed it on Magnus.

“I miss him so much,” said Alec in between his sobs and Max shook his head.

“I will kick Magnus’ butt. He hurt you. How can you miss him?” asked Max and confusion grew when Alec broke their hug and sat on top of his heels and chuckled despite his tears, ruffling Max’s hair.

Even though Alec was crying, he smiled at Max. That was when his young age really showed. The boy didn’t understand that the world wasn’t always black and white. “I messed up,” said Alec and started wiping things away. “I lied to him about something very important, after he told me something very important about himself as well. He trusted me and I betrayed that trust,” said Alec. “So you shouldn’t blame him, Max. He did nothing wrong.”

“But,” stammered Max.

As Alec continued explaining things, he wasn’t aware of the fact that someone had been standing in front of the training room that entire time and listened to their conversation. That was no other than Magnus, who finally reached his breaking point as well and he headed to the Institute to apologise to Alec for his own behaviour. He had missed the Shadowhunter and even though he said that he’d put his people in front his own needs, he was just too lonely without Alec around him. Only then he realised how much happiness the younger one brought to his life and without him he was completely miserable. He had thought about it a lot and in the end, he managed to forgive Alec for the betrayal. He needed time to process things and now that he had, he wished to have Alec back in his life. He could only hope that Alec still wanted him.

Once he was told that Alec was in the training room with young Max, he headed there, but didn’t step inside quite yet. Then, he happened to hear the entire conversation and he felt even more horrible. Hearing Alec cry broke the warlock’s heart even more and he shook his head. But, he needed to hear that conversation, in which Alec explained that he knew how much he messed up and he put all of the blame of the break up on himself. That wasn’t completely true, in the warlock’s opinion and he kept holding his tears back as he listened to everything, barely restraining himself from running into Alec’s arms. It wasn’t until he let out a hitched breath that Alec stopped talking and Max perked up, realising that someone was there.

“Who’s there?” asked Alec with a small voice and looked up, tears still present in his eyes. After he was done pouring his heart out to his brother, he felt a lot better and Max understood things a bit better. He didn’t see Magnus as the bad guy anymore, but he still didn’t understand why Alec still loved him.

“Show yourself,” said Max and his eyes widened when the person decided to show.

All of the colour drained from Alec’s heart when he saw Magnus stepping inside of the training room and he made a step back; he wasn’t ready for this. How long was he standing there for? How much did he hear? Seeing fear in Alec’s eyes, Max stepped in front of his brother, prepared to protect him. “Don’t come any further,” said Max and held Alec’s hand. “I will-”

“I mean no harm, young Shadowhunter,” said Magnus and then looked up at Alec, who was looking away. Magnus’ heart twisted at that and he thought that it was maybe the best for him to leave. But, he still decided to try, so he took in a deep breath. “I just… wish to speak with Alexander and then I’ll be on my way,” he said. “I won’t hurt him or-”

“You already hurt my brother,” said Max with a low voice.

“Max,” stammered Alec. “It’s okay. It’s not his fault, remember? I messed up.”

Magnus’ heart fell to the pit of his stomach when he heard that Alec blamed himself completely and he quickly shook his head. “It’s not your fault entirely,” quickly said the warlock and lowered his gaze, Alec looking up at that. “Look, Alexander,” started the older one. “I’ve gave it a lot of thought and you were right, relationships take effort. I,” he said. “Maybe we can figure something to have it both,” he then added and let out a hitched breath.

“Magnus-”

“Being without you… I couldn’t stand it, Alexander,” said Magnus and tears fell onto his cheeks as well. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“I hurt you as well,” said Alec with a small voice. “I shouldn’t have kept that from you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” said Magnus. “But I shouldn’t have said what I said either,” he admitted. “I shouldn’t have broken up with you. I was afraid, but… not anymore. So if you want, we can talk things out. I’m free now,” he said. “But if you don’t want to talk yet, I’ll leave, but I’ll understand. If you need more time, I’ll wait for you and-”

“Magnus,” whispered Alec, his voice breaking again and he walked past Max, walking to the warlock and he wrapped his arms around him, pulling Magnus into a tight hug. Of course he wanted to talk about it, to figure something out. That couldn’t be the end and he was overjoyed to hear that Magnus wished the same. The warlock just needed some time and space to figure that out. Magnus gasped when Alec hugged him, but he hugged him back right away and Alec nodded. “Yeah, I want to talk as well,” whispered the Shadowhunter. “I missed you so much.”

As the two of them found a place to talk, Max slowly walked away, feeling uneasy. However, as more days passed and he saw his brother smiling again, weight lifted off of his chest. Magnus and Alec were able to work things out and were together again. When little Max learned that and saw how happy Alec was, he was slowly beginning to forgive Magnus. After Magnus volunteered to help Alec with training the boy, Max learned that Magnus wasn’t such a bad guy after all. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t important what he thought of Magnus. As long as Alec was so happy, Max realised that Alec’s happiness was the most important thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.  
> Comments & opinions are well appreciated.


End file.
